September 24, 2013

September 2013 Table Hopping

TASTEBUD Magazine

Table Hopping – September 2013

“Sandwiches that rep KC”

Kitty's Cafe

810 E. 31st Street

Kansas City, MO 64109

(816) 753-9711

There are
plenty of good sandwiches on the menu at the standing room only restaurant
known as Kitty’s Café, but there is only one so life-changingly good that you
actually hear angels sing when you eat it. That sandwich is the Pork
Tenderloin. The sign on the outside of the building says Kitty’s Café – since
1951 best Tenderloins in town. Believe it. For around $5, enjoy three
hand-battered, deep-fried to a golden brown pork tenderloins placed between two
soft buns topped with tomato and lettuce. Be sure to get it spicy with a
Sriracha-based sauce. The original Kitty, an Asian woman, passed away many years
ago, but the recipe for her secret light and crispy tempura batter lives on
with the current owner. COME: with your game face on and bring a friend,
as this area can produce some really colorful characters.

Oklahoma Joe’s
Barbecue

3002 W. 47th Avenue

Kansas City, KS 66103

(913) 722-3366

www.oklahomajoesbbq.com

Barbecue fanatics in this town and across the country seek out
this humble little gas station on the corner of 47th and Mission Road for two
sandwiches. The Pulled Pork and the Z-Man Sandwich featuring tender beef
brisket, smoked provolone cheese and fried onion rings on a Kaiser bun for
around $7. Owners, Joe and Joy Stehney, started on the KC barbecue circuit, but
when they started winning awards, they knew it was time to open a place of their
own. They now have three locations across the metro. ORDER: in the Spring, during the season of Lent,
their soft shelled crab sandwich, for a fantastic taste of the first soft shell
crabs of the season.

Chef Alex Pope was doing a
gangbuster business with his red hot butcher shop called Local Pig, located in
the East Bottoms, when he decided to expand the vision to include sandwich
service highlighting the meat he carried inside in the butcher shop. This took
the form of a tricked out food truck that he decided to permanently park next
to his butcher shop, called Pigwich. GET:
the Banh Mi sandwich which is made with pork meat balls that are studded with
lemongrass, basil and other traditional Vietnamese aromatics, then topped with
a kind of creamy coconut sauce and topped with shredded carrots and cucumbers
tucked inside a chewy piece of French baguette with chips and soda for $8.

With a shiny new location
inside of the tony Village at Burlington Creek shopping center in North Kansas
City, you would never guess that owner, Dominic Cuccia, started with a small
drive-thru stand next to a car wash that he owns on North Oak Trafficway. What
sets Dominic’s apart is the 10 different kinds of pasta sauce he makes from
scratch daily from his Mother’s recipes. Try the Diablo sauce over pasta, which
is a chunky tomato sauce made with spicy habanero peppers. Another must is
the Chicken Spedini sandwich for around $7. It features marinated chicken
breast with mozzarella and provolone on an Italian hard roll and a side of his
amogia. DRIVE: thru is located to the side of the building and you can
place your order online head of time.